New Coach, New Look 'cats

The thought entered Florida Bobcats quarterback Fred McNair's mind for a few minutes, with the pain and frustration of another losing season almost becoming too much to bear again.

McNair wanted to give it up, wanted to quit the Arena Football League after so much personal success but not much team success. He and the Bobcats suffered through another losing season, going 3-11 and ending the year on a seven-game slide.

Then, almost as if someone in the Bobcats organization had read his fleeting thoughts, things began to clear. The Bobcats made a coaching change -- replacing Bruce Hardy with Dave Ewart -- revamped their roster and showed a commitment to winning they missed for so long.

They open the season tonight at 7:30 against the expansion Carolina Cobras in Raleigh, N.C.

"Dave told me what was going to happen, and I said, `OK I'm coming back. I'll stick out this year,'" McNair said. "And so far, so good. I'm enjoying camp. Preseason went well, so everything is looking up."

The Bobcats are optimistic about this season despite being the league's perennial cellar-dwellers. They finished the preseason 2-0 but have never made the playoffs and are 0-20 in their own division the past three years.

But Ewart, who served as the defensive coordinator and line coach for the Bobcats in 1998, has a reputation for turning teams around. As head coach of the Texas Terror in 1997, Ewart tied an Arena record for best single-season turnaround, taking the Terror from 1-13 in 1996 to 6-8 in 1997.

He already has made an impression on the Bobcats. Only nine players remain from last season, and he has emphasized doing things as a team. Team dinners and functions are mandatory.

"Any time you take over a losing team they get used to losing," Ewart said. "You look at history in the past. I'm not saying I'm Einstein, but I looked at the last five coaches who kept the same core guys, and it wasn't working for them. I tried a different approach. I brought new guys in, youth, guys who don't have bad habits, guys who respect each other."

Ewart seems to have found the right mix of veteran leadership and fresh faces. McNair and No. 1 target Curtis Ceaser return to anchor the offense. McNair and Ceaser are one of the league's most potent duos and were the only bright spots on the squad last season, when Ceaser broke four team records.

But Ewart promises the Bobcats will not be as one-dimensional as last season, when "if you shut Ceaser down you won."

The return of Darren Hughes and the addition of Eddie Williams and Bernard Holmes could make that happen.

Perhaps one of the biggest improvements Ewart hopes to make is along the offensive line. McNair got pounded last year -- the offensive line gave up 22 sacks.

Ewart has taken on the task of coaching the line himself this season because it was such a problem area. Terrence Wisdom, Eric Miller and Desmond Byrd return, and Ewart said he has been pleased with center John Dixon's performance.

"It's been a change for the better," Ceaser said. "I'm pretty confident about what's going on around here. I like the attitude. Everybody is upbeat, everybody is confident. The whole overall attitude this year is to win. We're pretty confident we'll go out there and get the victories."

That's what Ewart is confident of, too -- he has set the team goal at making its first playoff appearance.

"On paper it might look like it's a big challenge, but I expect to be in the top five, six teams in this league," Ewart said.

If that were to happen, last season -- as well as McNair's thoughts of retirement -- would be a fading memory.

"Last year was a very frustrating season," McNair said. "Nobody was having fun. This year it's a whole different atmosphere."